(gentle piano music) Beth: We're standing in the main aisle
of what's known as the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, and even what's left is just huge. Darius: Yes. Its massive scale here is to just overwhelm you with the power of the engineering and the architecture. Beth: And the power of the Emperor. Darius: That niche is
where the famous head and limbs of Constantine were found. We love it in archaeology, our history, when we actually find
the work of art in situ, so we actually have the
original architectural location and we actually
have the architecture. Beth: This was started
by the Emperor Maxentius, but then completed by
the Emperor Constantine. Darius: It's pretty much
a Maxentian project, but Constantine does
some small modifications, so then, ultimately,
his gargantuan statue, about 15 meters high,
was placed on one end. Beth: This is almost
unprecedented in terms of scale in the history of
architecture, and the Romans were able to do this because of concrete. Darius: They do have
some gigantic Basilicas like the Basilica Ulpia
by Trajan in this Forum, and the Basilica Julia itself
down in the Roman Forum, but this one here looks different. This one here looks more massive. Why? Because it's using a
different kind of technology. It didn't have a ceiling of roof beams. It didn't have the timber trusswork. Instead, it's borrowing
from the frigidarium spaces, the large cold halls
in the bath complexes, like the Baths of Caracalla and the Baths of Diocletian, and it just looks awesome. Beth: Over the main
area, there was a massive groin vault made out of concrete, and we see that the side aisles have barrel vaults, and we can still see the impressions from the
coffers that were there. Darius: Creating these
coffers, you are reducing the overall weight of the vaulting, so it has a double purpose, and that's the way the Romans were. They were interested in aesthetics, and they were interested in engineering and technology, and they were building things to last. Beth: What we're seeing here is brick facing on the concrete, and then these would have been covered by [what were] slabs of marble that would have been very
colorful and geometric like the interior of the Pantheon. Darius: Right. When you look at
these small little holes that pepper this surface,
that's for the metal clamps. The metal clamps would
have helped hold in place the panels of marble
that also would have been glued in with cement, and it's, of course,
all been stripped away. Beth: Concrete enabled
the Romans to shape space in a way that was different from post-and-lintel architecture, and to create this sense of grandeur. We're talking about a period now at the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century, when the Empire is coming undone, and has been coming
undone for a while now. Darius: Maxentius managed
to pull things together for at least six years
of reign, and he decided, "I'm going to make a fresh
start in the city of Rome. "I'm going to build a lot of "massive structures in the Forum area." The warehouses around this part of town had burned down. It
was a great opportunity to create a new large Basilica, and that's what he does. When you see a structure like this, you're very much aware that the Romans are still able to build and still able to wow the audience. Beth: But then a civil war follows, and Constantine goes to
battle with Maxentius with whom he was co-ruler before that. Darius: Right. There's a major discrepancy in who is the Emperor.
That Tetrarchic system, where there are two senior Emperors and two junior Emperors,
really doesn't work and these guys are sons
of some of those Emperors, so they're duking it out, literally, all throughout the Empire, and it's at the Milvian
Bridge then that you get the total victory of
Constantine and his troops and Maxentius is killed
at the Milvian Bridge. Beth: It was just before this battle that Constantine had his vision that inspired him to become a supporter of Christianity and decriminalize it. Darius: Right. Then
legalize it, ultimately. Beth: And so this is
the end of the Empire, and, in some ways,
the beginnings of the Middle Ages. Darius: Here's a point in time in which Constantine is coming in,
he's celebrating his victory, but he's not making a sacrifice at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and he will eventually move to make these big public churches
for the first time, St Peter's and St John Lateran. At the same time, he's going to make sure that he takes care of the city and he wants to be
associated with the Forum. He doesn't build a church here, but he does make sure that everyone knows that this Basilica is, indeed,
his, and he is the ruler. Beth: The Basilica of
Maxentius and Constantine was a civic space. It was a law court, like all Basilicas
were, but this is a form that will be adopted by the Christians for their first churches. (gentle piano music)